Are there any civilian (non-football team member) Colorado State students out there with sub. 4.4 speed in the 40 yard dash?

CSU football coach Steve Fairchild wants to know.

Anyone who can beat CSU’s three fastest players — receivers Tony Drake and Thomas Coffman and cornerback Bernard Blake — in a foot race will be an honorary team member for the week leading to the Sept. 17 Rocky Mountain Showdown with Colorado at Invesco Field in Denver.

The challenge is part of Friday’s annual Rams Superstars Competition for the football team in Moby Arena. There will be a preliminary contest for students at 3 p.m. with the winner advancing to the 6 p.m. fill entrants must sign a liability waiver. The NCAA bans tryouts so there is no actual roster spot at stake.

Former CSU quarter Nico Ranieri scrambles during the scrimmage at Hugh Stadium last August. (Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post)

Former Colorado State backup quarterback Nico Ranieri is taking the 2-1-2 route to salvage some playing time at the Division I level.

His father, Bill Ranieri, said from home in Orlando, Fla., that his son will enroll this spring in a junior college with the intent of going back in the Division I recruiting pool a year from now.

The alternatives were transferring to a Division I FBS school and sitting out yet another year. He also spent his redshirt year in 2009 as a widely acclaimed freshman from Orlando powerhouse Dr. Phillips.

Steve Fairchild and Urban Meyer used to be neighbors in Fort Collins when both were assistants at Colorado State in the ‘90’s.

Given that familiarity, Fairchild did the neighborly thing. He announced the welcome mat is always out at Hughes Stadium for Florida, Meyer’s current location. Same is for Notre Dame (except the Irish already filled a vacancy with Air Force for next year.)

As opposed to past CSU teams agreeing to play anyone, anywhere _ which led to break though victories at Arizona, Michigan State, Virginia and Cal (along with some serious setbacks at USC, Minnesota, and Cal), the current CSU administration and coaching staff wants no worse than home and away.

BOULDER – Speaking Wednesday morning following a 90-minute practice, Colorado coach Dan Hawkins didn’t sound convinced that his team’s preparation for the season opener will be aided by Colorado State having already named its starting quarterback.

On Tuesday, CSU coach Steve Fairchild gave the nod to Pete Thomas, a true freshman from El Cajon, Calif. Colorado faces CSU on Sept. 4 at Invesco Field at Mile High.

According to CSU, Thomas will become only the second freshman in school history to start the season opener and the first in almost 65 years. Bob Hainlen led Colorado A&M to a 1945 season-opening win over Northern Colorado.

“No, I don’t know, we’ll see,” CU’s Hawkins said when asked if it helps the Buffs’ defensive coaches to plan for a specific CSU starting quarterback. “When (a quarterback battle) is close like that there’s a chance you could see another guy, too, depending on how it goes.”

Hawkins said he knew of Thomas during recruiting but did not pursue the 6-foot-5, 220-pounder.

“He was very productive,” Hawkins said of Thomas’ high school career. “He was somebody we had on our radar but not somebody we were watching play and getting on him.”

Hawkins was asked about the jitters that a true freshman might feel in a season opener against a rival opponent, and with the stage being an NFL stadium.

“There’s something too that,” Hawkins said. “But Fair (CSU coach Steve Fairchild) wouldn’t start him if he didn’t have a lot of confidence in him and have guys around him that can help him out. I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

The 2010 Rams will have to do without departed offensive lineman such as Cole Pemberton (No. 53).

In the third part of a series of look-aheads at Colorado State’s 2010 season, broken down by units, we look at the Rams up front, on the offensive line …

Newcomers: This is traditionally to toughest position to fill in college with a true freshman. That said, Mason Myers, 6-3, 285, is getting a look on the depth chart at center. Redshirt freshman Weston Richburg is very much in the battle at center.

Strengths: This is a work-in-progress area. Despite inexperience, many of the linemen have been in the program for a while and the Rams should be more than solid at tackle with Mark Starr and Paul Madsen, both with starting experience. Also guard Jake Gdowski had four starts in Smith place a year ago.

Weaknesses: Proven depth at tackle and figuring out the pieces on the interior line, particularly at center which had been manned so well for years by Tim Walter.

What to look for: Steve Fairchild says this group could eventually be better than the offensive line unit of a year ago. Time will tell. First, Ryan Griffin, Tyler McDermott and Connor Smith need to settle the positions at center and one guard. There is a fair amount of depth developing in the ranks.

Biggest losses: Both starters (100 percent of QB passing yardage) Grant Stucker (graduation), Jon Eastman (transfer.) On the flip side, they were pitchers of record for a 3-9 season.

Strengths: Both freshmen candidates have raw skills and can put some velocity on the ball. Thomas has prototype QB size but needs to gain a few pounds, Ranieri has more mobility although this is not an offense demanding a running quarterback.

Weaknesses: Experience, experience, experience.

What to look for: Steve Fairchild is in no hurry to make a decision and has strongly hinted both will see some action. It’s difficult to even venture a guess until contact drills and some live scrimmaging.

Colorado State southpaw football coach Steve Fairchild fired a blazing fastball down the middle of home plate Thursday when he delivered the ceremonial first pitch before the Pirates-Rockies game.

“That’s the fastest velocity I’ve ever seen in a ceremonial first pitch,” said Colorado State sports information director Zak Gilbert. Obviously his job is making Fairchild look good, but Gilbert saw plenty of ceremonial first pitches when he worked on the Rockies public relations staff.

Now, even if the Rams don’t achieve anything this season, Fairchild can always say he was the set-up man for Ubaldo Jimenez.

College fans usually associate the summer with football players toiling on campus. Actually, it’s year-round conditioning for nearly every sport.

I ran into several Colorado State basketball players Tuesday after an interview with football coach Steve Fairchild. Sophomore guard Jesse Carr described the idyllic existence as lifting weights, playing pickup games and — this is too exciting — going bowling at night. Everyone also goes to summer school classes.

All the newcomers are in Fort Collins. Chad Calcaterra, the 6-10 center from Minnesota, is already making a big impression on his teammates. “Calcaterra is going to help a lot,” Carr said.

Carr is anxious to resume his career after a medical hardship season. A slow-healing pelvic injury from late in his freshman year left him sidelined last season. He became something of a cult figure on campus thanks to CSU’s Reaching the Peak television series on The Mtn.

CSU coach Steve Fairchild wouldn’t shed any light on either issue when we had our annual mid-summer sit-down chat Tuesday. The full Q & A will appear at a later date.

The simple answer is he doesn’t know, on either count.

It’s no surprise he won’t name a QB starter until practice is well underway. It’s been assumed since the spring game either redshirt freshman Nico Ranieri or true freshman Pete Thomas (who enrolled a semester early) would draw the assignment.

Fairchild tossed junior Klay Kubiak’s name into the race. Kubiak has spent 19 months rehabbing from two shoulder surgeries and Fairchild is anxious to see how Kubiak performs. Bad luck has forced the Regis product into a spectator role but he knows the offense.

Even if Ranieri wins the job, expect to see Thomas at some point. “We’re going to need both Pete Thomas and Nico Ranieri,” Fairchild said.

As for the pants, he won’t decide until someone tries them on. “Before I weigh in, I’d like to see it in person.”

Of the three choices, the orange jersey/white pants look like Texas uniforms and we all know the Longhorns can afford any uniform and color combination in the universe. I think the orange jersey and dark green pants resemble Miami Hurricanes attire but not really. Just my opinion, but the orange and gold resembles some kind of fashion atrocity circa the 1980’s.

And to think, CSU already has one of the best looking uniforms in the country when the Rams wear their dark green home jerseys with the gold pants.

Maj. Terry Slatic, a Rams flag, and a crew of Marines in Afghanistan. (Maj. Slatic, care of CSU)

Terry Slatic, an offensive lineman at Colorado State in the early ’80s, played on the same roster as current Rams coach Steve Fairchild. Now, the two are a world apart. Well, they were a few weeks ago.

Slatic — that’s Maj. Slatic — was in Afghanistan with a U.S. Marine unit. You can see him in the picture above, standing in the middle, holding the weapon pointed up.

Slatic was a longtime Marine during a first enlistment. After the Sept. 11 attacks, he re-enlisted. For awhile, he was the oldest captain in the Corps, before a promotion to major. He returned home within the past few weeks.

He’s one of two former Rams football players in active duty. The other is Jamie Bennett, a defensive lineman from 1997-2000. He’s a medical officer in the Army and just returned from a tour in Iraq.

In the picture, you don’t have to look close to see the CSU flag blowing in the desert wind. How’d the flag get there? Fairchild and a bevy of players and coaches and admins have been sending care packages to Slatic and Bennett. The packages had gum, beef jerky, chapstick, caramel corn, headphones. And some of them included the Rams flag.

“These guys took Terry and Jamie under their wings and let them know that even though they may have felt like they were out on an island over there, that there were teammates and other Rams back here thinking about them and their units,” Fairchild said.

Consider the hotbed of Rams fans a wide one, from Denver to Miami to Kabul.

The latter, younger Bosworth will interest Rams fans. He has yet to sign with CSU, but multiple online recruiting sites have him committing to the Rams. Fort Collins should just open up a frequent-flyer program with Florida. The Rams already have 25 Florida players on their 2010 roster.

For clarity, Bryan Bosworth is gonna need a nickname. Something other than “The Boz.”

Anyone catch Kevin Craft, the new UCLA quarterback who recovered from four first-half interceptions to lead the Bruins over Tennessee and into the Top 25?

Yes, that Kevin Craft, better known in the Mountain West for a brief career at San Diego State.

If not for an obscure NCAA transfer rule, Craft might have been in a CSU uniform this season. Had Craft transferred straight from San Diego State to another school outside the MWC, he would have sat out a transfer year. Instead, he played for his father, ex-Aztecs coach Tom Craft at a California junior college.

However, returning to the same conference as his original school would have cost a year of eligibility.

During recruiting season in January, Tom Craft was very interested in sending his son to CSU. He knew Steve Fairchild well from their San Diego connections.

When Rick Neuheisel was hired late, it all worked out well for quarterback.

The answer: Nov. 22.
The question: When do No. 15 BYU and No. 22 Utah meet?

Colorado football coach Dan Hawkins likes to talk about “watershed moments” that can accelerate the learning curve and boost a building program to a higher level. The win over Oklahoma was one. Earning a bowl invitation is another.

Add the oral commitment of Salt Lake City linebacker Lynn Katoa to the list. Read more…